KKR mezzanine fund manager resigns

NEW YORK

NEW YORK Feb 4 (Reuters) - KKR & Co LP has asked
the head of its European mezzanine business, Marc Ciancimino, to
lead its $1 billion mezzanine fund in the place of Fred Goltz,
who has decided to leave the New York-based private equity firm.

KKR confirmed the departure and new appointment after they
were disclosed in a Jan. 30 memo to Fresno County Employees'
Retirement Association, a KKR investor that published the
information on its website.

Goltz is leaving for personal reasons, said the memo, which
was penned by investment advisory firm Wurts & Associates. Goltz
is moving to London where he plans to start a new business, a
person familiar with the matter said.

Mezzanine investments are loans that rank below senior debt
arrangements but ahead of preferred and common equity in a
company's capital structure. They allow acquirers of companies
to use less of their own money in leveraged buyouts.

KKR Mezzanine Partners aims to deliver returns of 15 to 20
percent, gross of fees, according to information on Fresno
County Employees' Retirement Association's website. It was
launched in 2011 with a 10-year fund term.

Goltz joined KKR in 1995 from the corporate finance
department of brokerage firm Furman Selz Inc.

Ciancimino is currently a managing director in KKR's London
office. He joined KKR in 2008 from investment firm GSC Group.

Last October, Los Angeles-based private equity firm Levine
Leichtman Capital Partners said it had hired Lee Stern, who also
helped found KKR's mezzanine fund, as a managing director in its
credit strategies investment team.

While private equity still accounts for most of KKR's $66.3
billion in assets under management, the firm has been
diversifying into credit, real estate and hedge funds to capture
more market share in the alternative investment space.